Suspected terrorist denied entry to Taiwan
Central News Agency
2014-09-18 02:52 PM
Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) An Arab terror suspect arriving from Shanghai has been intercepted at an airport in Taiwan and put on a flight to his home country under police escort, officials confirmed Thursday.
The man, identified as Baghlaf Saeed Ahmed, showed up on a list of international terrorists the previous day when immigration officials at Kaohsiung International Airport ran his name through Remote Query International, a databank established by the United States government, according to the National Immigration Agency (NIA).
Ahmed, who holds a United Arab Emirates passport, was then escorted to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for a late-night flight to Dubai, said Chien Chuan-kang, chief of the Aviation Police Bureau's Kaohsiung branch.
The man had to be sent to Taoyuan as flights to Dubai are available only from Taiwan's main gateway, Chien said.
Ahmed claimed that he wanted to visit Taiwan on business, but the authorities decided on immediate deportation out of concern for border security, the NIA said.
The case was reported to international counter-terrorist organizations, it added. It is the first case in several years involving the deportation of a known suspected terrorist, the NIA said.
(By Chiu Chun-chin, Liu Chien-pang, Wang Shwu-fen and Jay Chen)
